Currently Browsing: brush pens 98 articles
Mixed Media Portrait on Toned Paper
If you’re going to play around with mixed media I encourage you to seek out toned papers. The strokes and values you achieve on the toned background make a fun departure from white paper. This sketch of an Earth’s World Fairgoer (who was wearing black lipstick) is in a hand bound journal I made with […]
A TV Tip: Remaking Things
If you enjoy watching people tinkering to transform things from one state to another, and then also talk about the fixing and making you might have fun watching “Saved and Remade.” It’s a British show and at the time I am posting it’s on Amazon Prime. People bring in old items that are busted or […]
Another Limited Palette Portrait
You can click on the image to see an enlargement and read the text. I’ve got the colors swatched: Saturn Red, a cool red which I think is Quin Pink (based on how it’s reading in the finished portrait), Indanthone blue (PB60) and Azure Cobalt blue (because I love the granulation), Green Gold, Burnt Sienna […]
Staedtler Pigment Brush Pens with Color Ink: A Brief Review
Since the internet and phone are always paying attention to everything I do sometimes they suggest things they think might be of interest. Typically what is suggested isn’t what I’m interested in at all, because I am interested in what I’m interested in and usually nothing tangentially related. But the other day the internet suggested […]
Painting on Toned Paper Watercolor (Mostly)
You don’t have to work in gouache to paint on toned paper. I’ve written about this before. You can use your watercolor paints with less water and achieve rich, saturated colors that work well on toned paper. If you need a lighter color over a dark base you can of course mix a little bit […]
Mixed Media Experiments Continue
This dog portrait was my warm up sketch to continue my mixed media experiments. I started with a brush pen sketch from a Sktchy muse reference photo. I used leftover gouache and then the dry media you can see listed on the recto page. I then searched for another photo reference on Sktchy and did […]
In Context: Compliments from an Engineer
On the journal page in today’s post I’ve done a TV study (verso page) and a watercolor sketch of a man from a 19th Century photo (exaggerating his hair of course; recto page). But I’d like to call your attention to the top left corner of this spread when I jotted down the best compliment […]
Another Grid
Lots of grids lately—something I like to keep coming back to. I’m including this grid, of sketches from Earth’s World Fairgoers, today because it will lead up to something later—a project post I’m taping for the end of the month. My point is to encourage you to look for patterns in your journaling and see […]
In Context: Still Good Advice
I found this Earth’s World Fairgoer in my digital file from October 2024. The advice is still good. In fact I think I’ll do that as soon as I post this. (Click on the image to read the text.) Meanwhile, more advice, this time from me to you—if you want to think about color it’s […]
Kuretake Ai Liner Brush—Sepia Brush Pen
I’ve reviewed the original Kuretake Ai Liner brush with black pigmented ink before on my blog. Recently I saw there is now a sepia version. Who doesn’t like sketching in sepia ink now and then? I ordered up a sepia Kuretake Ai Liner pen from JetPens. (They run around $7.50 and I typically buy enough […]